From April's Referee Magazine...

[Bob M.]

Originally posted by KWH
BOB M???
Where are you???

Masucci, I need some help here, throw me a rope, I'm drowning...

REPLY: Kevin...here you go...

I don't think that the illegal touching trumps the IFP. I believe it's the other way around. Once it's determined that the pass is illegal, you can't have illegal touching. By definition, illegal touching must be committed by an ineligible. But eligibility only applies to legal forward passes. So I think in the case book play, the R must have had no reason to flag an IFP; therefore the touching was illegal. If, however, the R ruled that the QB dumped the ball and flagged it, then any subsequent flag for illegal touching would need to be picked up. So, this case book play doesn't really illustrate the same thing that I think Referee mag got wrong. In (a), it's a safety regardless of whether B accepts or declines the penalty for the IFP foul.